This invention relates to video display systems, and more specifically to video display systems mounted in and operating in mass transit subway cars.
It is commonplace to provide visual advertising displays such as posters in mass transit subway cars, where the displays are available for reading by subway passengers during travel. It is also known to equip subway cars with closed circuit television cameras, for surveillance of passenger behaviour and other safety checks. Images of such surveillance are either displayed at a central security facility, or recorded for subsequent viewing in the event of safety problems.
It is also commonplace to equip subway cars with audio public address systems for a myriad of uses, including transit service announcements, community service events, advertising, safety and emergency procedures, as well as inter-staff communications.
Proposals have been made previously to equip other transportation items, especially aircraft, with television or video systems, primarily for the entertainment of passengers on long journeys. Examples of such systems in the patent literature can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,980 Steventon et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,821 Greenwald, U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,124 Kline, U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,728 Gradin et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,006 Brown et al.
Entertainment of passengers on subway cars has until now generally been ignored, since the average journey taken by a passenger on a mass transit subway system is usually short, lasting perhaps fifteen minutes. Nevertheless, subway transit riders offer an attractive audience for visual advertising messages, as evidenced by the proliferation of advertising signs which commonly adorn a subway car. In addition, mass transit systems such as subways are in need of extra sources of revenue, to keep passenger fare structures at an affordable level as operating costs rise, and to avoid decreased ridership as a result.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a public service message display system, entertainment system and advertising system for mass transit subway cars.
It is a further object to provide a novel source of extra revenue for a mass transit subway system.
The present invention provides a television public service message display, entertainment and advertising system for subway cars, in which television monitors are provided at spaced intervals in subway cars, to display short duration televisual entertainment and advertising features to subway riders. The system is designed so that advertising spots on it can be sold by the transit system to potential advertisers and sponsors, for extra revenues for the transit system. It takes advantage of the fact that subway riders are, for the most part, occupying a subway car under relatively crowded conditions but for only a relatively brief duration. They are looking for something on which to focus their attention during their brief ride, whilst at the same time often finding it inconvenient to open newspapers, magazines or the like under crowded circumstances and becoming bored by static advertising or other displays around them. The present invention provides properly positioned television monitors displaying moving images of news items, advertising material and the like, viewable by substantially all riders in the car, and filling their need for visual entertainment during the brief duration of their subway ride.
Thus, according to the present invention, from one aspect, there is provided a video system for displaying televised material to passengers in a mass transit subway car, and comprising at least one video display monitor adapted for mounting inside a subway car so as to display televised materials to passengers riding therein, and a video signal source unit operatively connected to said at least one monitor.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a subway car for mass transportation and comprising a video display system including at least one video display monitor having a video screen, the monitor being mounted in the subway car in a manner such that the video screen thereof is readily visible to passengers in the subway car, and a video signal source unit operatively connected to said at least one monitor.
The term xe2x80x9cvideo signal source unitxe2x80x9d as used herein embraces player units for playing pre-recorded video material, such as computer-based digital video recorders (including CD-ROM players), video tape players and video disk players, and television receivers for receiving live or pre-recorded broadcast television signals from a remote transmitter and supplying these to the video display monitors mounted in the subway cars. One system according to the invention utilizes receivers including computer-based digital video recorders for receiving broadcast television signals from a remote transmitter as the video signal source unit. Such video signal source unit can be located either within the mass transits"" premises or on a remote broadcasting site. Alternatively, the invention utilizes a video tape player, a video disk player, or a computer-based digital video recorder, as the video signal source unit. The video signal source unit may be located in the same subway car as that in which the monitor or monitors are located, or in adjacent or remote cars of the same train, with the necessary operative connection between the player and the monitor(s). An individual subway car can be equipped with its own video signal source unit, connected to a plurality of monitors mounted at different, appropriately chosen locations along the length of the subway car. Alternatively, one central video signal source unit can be located in one car of subway train, and connected to monitors in some or all of the cars of the train, to provide a central video signal source unit for the train.
Computer (PC) based digital video recorders basically transmit video signals from a hard drive or CD-ROM storage. They are however also capable of receiving transmitted input at intervals, e.g. news item updates, at, say, hourly intervals, to add to their stored transmittable video data. In this sense they also act as television receivers.
The video signal source unit and video display monitors used in the present invention can be of known, standard form, obtainable as off the shelf items from manufacturers and sales outlets. The connections between them, for display of televised material, are also standard and well within the skill of the art. For example, use can be made of the existing subway infrastructure by which audio announcements are currently transmitted. Alternatively, the connections may be by use of coaxial cables, fibre optics, cell phone systems or satellite transmission, or by other appropriate means.
A preferred system according to the invention is a subway car or plurality of subway cars equipped with a plurality of television monitors, especially LCD-based television monitors, and a video signal source comprising a video tape player, video disk player or computer-based digital video recorder, the video signal source and the monitors being interconnected by suitable electrical cable systems which are self-contained within the subway car. In this way, new subway cars can be built with the video system or parts thereof installed, and usable on substantially any transit system, since the operation of the video system is independent of any previously installed track, tunnel or control systems.
The video system according to the present invention provides a means for communicating a very wide range of information to viewers in an environment ideally suited to communicating short video messages to viewers, especially commercial messages or sponsored community service, or informational news bytes. Most subway rides are of short duration, e.g. 15-30 minutes or less. It is normally undesirable to play television programs of any significant length to subway passengers for fear of distracting them from their proper points of interchange and disembarkation on the subway system. However, the system according to the invention is ideally suited for displaying a series of short, 30 second-1 minute messages, in sequence, such as a series of commercial messages. These can range from straightforward advertising as seen on commercial television, or the type of news feed with corporate sponsorship as seen by cable television viewers, with news services provided by specialized companies in this business. If the information is delivered by video tape player, video disk player or computer-based digital video recorder, it can be repeated at intervals of, say, 5-15 minutes, based upon the average duration of individual subway rides, i.e. the pre-recorded program is of total duration of about 5-15 minutes. If the feed is delivered from an outside source, its delivery depends on the package of the server, and according to agreement between the purchaser and the mass transit management, and other interested parties as necessary.
Typically, the television images displayed by the monitors of the system according to the invention do not incorporate sound, though they may contain rolling script, similar to cable television news channels, or similar to closed-captioning for the hearing impaired. This avoids risk of interference with announcements being played to passengers through the normal audio address system carried by the subway train, and avoids adding to the general noise level experienced by passengers on the subway cars, a noise level which is commonly quite high even under normal running conditions. However, sound may be incorporated where appropriate, for example in safety or emergency situations, or to mark the beginning of a message to which the subway or transmission provider wishes to call attention.
The manner in which the video display monitors are disposed and mounted in the subway car depends to some extent on the design of the subway car itself. Such designs can vary between different subway systems. Normally from 6-12 such colour monitors are provided in each subway car, suitably of 12xe2x80x3-13xe2x80x3 size, spaced along the length of the car, and disposed above the windows of the car, in a manner and at a location which does not interfere with the operation of any other essential element of the car (door operation, lights, heating, air conditioning etc.). A subway car is normally constructed so that it has a cavity wall, defined between its outer structural shell and its inner lining wall, the cavity providing for wiring and cables and other mechanical functions, and, at places, containing insulation. The video display monitors in the system of the invention are suitably mounted in the cavity wall.
In a preferred arrangement, the video display monitors have a strong metal frame construction, fixed to the frame of the subway car. The screens are preferably covered with a rigid transparent unit, e.g. of polycarbonate, shaped to coincide with the shape of the internal wall of the subway car at the location of mounting. For example, when the monitor is mounted at the junction of the wall and ceiling of the subway car, where there is commonly provided a concavely curved segment of internal wall, the transparent cover unit is suitably similarly concavely curved, so that it can be mounted as a continuum with the internal walls and blended to contours thereof, with the monitor mounted behind it. The screen is suitably angled downwardly, for best viewing by passengers seated opposite the screen. The entire structure of the monitor, including the cover unit if used, is suitably housed in a stainless steel or strong plastic casement, designed to appear integral with the subway car, without visible edges or protuberances, and matching the materials and colours of the subway car interior.
The video monitors used in the system of the present invention can be of standard, cathode ray tube-based design. Such monitors have the advantage of economy, being mass-produced items manufactured on a very large scale. They are eminently suitable for use in most embodiments according to the invention, and can be viewed clearly from a variety of angles. However, in circumstances where the subway car in operation encounters locations of large magnetic field, it is possible that the picture displayed on a CRT monitor will be distorted as the monitor moves through such location. Any such distortion effect can be reduced by surrounding the monitor, to an extent practical and consistent with its provision of full visual display, with an appropriate shield such as a steel or other ferromagnetic casement. Where such a magnetic field problem turns out to be particularly acute, the CRT-type monitor may be replaced by a monitor incorporating a colour liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, which is not sensitive to intermittent encountering of external magnetic fields.